Kalkwasser or 2 part dosing?

I've reached a fork in the road on dosing. From what little I've read on the two methods, kalk seems easier and more reliable but two part seems more precise? Also dosing kalk in ato, you can use a Ph probe to monitor a runaway ato pump by setting a cutoff of Ph rises too much. I like that as a backup for ato. Are there any other easy and reliable backups for limiting runaway ato? So far, looks like my best option would be to use both though I'd like to find a simpler solution. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

kalk is good to maintain the specific numbers that you are chasing with alk and cal as well as a PH. you will still need a 2 part to bring your numbers into check if you have a longer period of time between water changes to maintain those alk and cal numbers.

 

I generally do 10% water changes once a week using reef crystals. I find that parameters jump to where they should right after a change then drift during the week.

 

You can use both. Most people the Kalk is not enough as they don't evaporate enough water but it depends on the coral load. More than a light coral load you'll probably need to dose too. Stability is what you should strive for either way.
I love arrow crabs. If they wouldn't eat my hermits I would have one in a heartbeat.

 

In that case, it looks like I may be a good candidate for kalk only. I go through about .5 gallons per day this time of year of top off water and twice that in the summer. A question I have on kalk: since kalk is made to go into the ato tank as Ca and carb in a specific ratio that doesn't change, do you find that one or the other (Ca or carb) needs to be added due to being used more than the other, assuming you start of with correct parameters. Will they both be used in the same proportion regardless of the tank?

 

for the most part they will be used up the same. you have to see what works for you with the kalk mix to keep levels stable. I might be wrong, but the most that kalk will mix into a gallon of water is 2 table spoons and anything over that it becomes a slurry at the bottom of the container. I use about 1 1/2 spoons per gallon and that's been perfect for my tank to keep my numbers around 10 dkh alk and 450 ppm cal. Once a week i dose about a capful of magnesium and calcium to supplement the kalk.

 

Do you find any problem with precipitate at the rate you rate dosing rc?

 

The only place where I get precipitate is in my ATO container. What goes in the tank is clear fluid with kalk diluted into it. Haven't had any snow globe effects in my tank because of it and I don't think I ever will with how much I'm dosing. My tank is a 55g mixed reef with a majority of SPS and LPS so the demand for the cal/alk is somewhat there. I use up about 5 gallons of mixed kalk over a period of a week and few days.

 

Thanks for the input RC. Based on what you're saying it looks like kalk would work for my tank. Sounds like the biggest variable, after finding the rite dose is dealing with evaporation rate. But I imagine that would likely change slowly with the seasons.

 

If the Kalk is not quite enough you get get a little more in there with vinegar. You'll just have to try it and see how much your corals suck up.
Kalkwasser and vinegar mix - Reef Central Online Community